Turning up

“You always come to these parents lunch weeks.”

It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to work out why. As a single parent I am not left with a whole lot of options.

I do try to attend as many of the school functions as I can, and can bear.

Thing is they are generally very dull, and I do fear that I will actually lose the will to live during one of them.

It is also very difficult to gauge an event's importance and the impact my attendance, or non-attendance, might have. Often notice comes at short notice and in the form of simply a title and a time.

I think they should come graded like films.

* = If you have absolutely nothing else to do.

***** = Miss this and scar your child for life.

These events are all very nice – in theory – and I do appreciate that they are infinitely more important to a child whose sole recent purpose has been to contribute to them.

Which is why I always try to turn up.

The second thing I do is to make my presence obvious.

Thereafter I just concentrate on surviving them.

I want my child to know that what he is up to is important to me, but I also think there is some mileage in not always being able to turn up.

It's a delicate balance, I suspect a young child will only see it as you not being interested or being further down your priorities than whatever is preventing your attendance. But it also expands a child's mind to know that the world is bigger than their school walls.

I am a parent that is rarely missing, and I hope it is my repeated attendances that my son retains happy memories of, rather than stowing away the few times I am unable to turn up.

Conversely I witness and ponder the exact opposite in other kids. The genuine thrill in a child because their parents have finally turned up to one of their gigs, and I do wonder if those children will hold on to those thoughts rather than dwell on the persistent absences.

Sadly due to a prior commitment I am unable to take up an invite to a mock wedding this week, which won't be the only one I'll be avoiding.

Both hopefully * ranked events.

Ben 10 arrives at Drayton Manor

We were amongst the lucky throng that were invited to Drayton Manor Park last week, to the unveiling of their brand new Ben 10 rollercoaster.

And I say we were lucky, some of us were luckier than others.

No sooner had we walked in and the kids were greeted with goodie bags, bags that included these well cool Ben 10 tops.

Such was my envy I did consider asking the three amigos to write a review, but for fear they’d do a better job, I dropped the idea.

To title it proper and that, Ben 10: Ultimate Mission rollercoaster is the first of its kind in Europe, launching riders forwards on their first tour of the 180m track, hitting speeds of 55kph and a g-force of 3, before returning travelling backwards along the same route.

That’s the blurb and it really did surprise me how good a ride it is, especially considering it is for children. Over 1.2 metres and they are free to ride it on their own.

Max was borderline height but after seeing it run a couple of times, he was never going to go on it alone.

He was a little apprehensive.

Mind that could be down to Chip and Pin’s – or whatever they are called – celebratory dance routine. A duo dancing to a medley of car alarms is not for everyone. I would have let Four Arms, Thunder Chops or whatever the characters are called open it, but they'd booked these two lovely chaps of Britain's Got Talent fame to dance it open.

But the ride is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

The ride, like few others, is also trying to engage riders in the queue. What is normally a laborious process of shuffling along an irate galvanized maze, is actually seemingly designed to be part of ‘the ride’ or ‘experience’.

It actually works (a bit), there are interactive touch-screens that let you play with Ben 10’s Omnitrix, models of the various aliens, and screens looping various Ben 10 footage.

We both enjoyed it, as we did the rest of the park.

I like the fact that while it has all the things a high-octane theme park is expected to have, it also has a zoo. Having the animals to go and look at can act as a great pace changer, and is also a great place to go when the ride queues are at their peaks.

So, in summary, Drayton Manor is awesomer than it was before.